John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, said: “I send my condolences to Lord Howe’s family. Lord Howe devoted his life to the service of his country and did so with distinction.

“He was not afraid to stand up for what he believed in and famously demonstrated this in his historic confrontation with Mrs Thatcher.

“The end of an era has been marked as in one week we have lost two old foes and great Parliamentarians in Denis Healey and now Geoffrey Howe.”